Author: Ten Thousand Days

As I have continued moving forward on my long and twisting path since losing Dana, I have finally let much of the negativity go. The most damaging, long-lasting side-effect from the trauma came from the cruelty of judgment. As I described in "My Story", much of my remaining anger, rage and resentment departed as we were … Continue reading Please Don’t Judge the Widowed Who Find New Love

The simple definition of resilience is “the capacity to recover from difficulties”. I have constantly heard how “resilient” I am throughout the differing degrees of adversity that I have been forced to endure. When I look back at how I reacted and carried on through these situations I am stricken by the fact that I … Continue reading The Beauty of Resilience and Perspective

It has been twenty seven years now that I have been on this long and winding journey after the loss of my fiancée, Dana. Long, long ago I started repeating the motto “one day at a time” in my head. One day at a time is how I was able to come to terms … Continue reading The Peace I Feel From Finally Telling My Story

“Three more weeks and we will never have to say goodbye again.” Those words have echoed in my head for over twenty six years now.

Thirty years ago I was a sophomore at the local community college. I kept seeing this cute girl walking to class that had the biggest, most beautiful smile I had ever seen. I was head over heels, but far too shy to approach her on my own. I would see her often talking to a girl named Gina, whom I had known since elementary school. So I cautiously asked Gina about her. She said “oh that’s Dana, she is such a sweetheart”. A few days later she gave me her phone number and said that “Dana would love for you to call her”. I called her that afternoon, we talked for two hours. We went on a date three days later.

We never had the opportunity to establish a home together. So when Dana died, I was left with only a handful of physical things from our relationship. It consisted of some gifts she had given me, letters and cards as well as a lot of pictures. Our relationship was long before the modern day cell … Continue reading Pictures of You

I am approaching the 27 year anniversary of Dana's death. I was 23 then, now I am 50. Often I wonder how I made it all these years. Looking forward in that amount of time, I will be 77 in 27 years. That truly boggles my mind! But it also gives me comfort in … Continue reading The Reality of Time

This is my personal 9/11 story. It involves my very best friend, the same Mike from my first post in this blog My Story… Last year our personal story was told by Mike Rowe on his “The Way I Heard It” podcast, the episode called "You Don't Know Mike". It went viral and was seen … Continue reading My Personal 9/11 Story – Never, Ever Forget

“Three more weeks and we will never have to say goodbye again." Those words have echoed in my head for over twenty six years now. Thirty years ago I was a sophomore at the local community college. I kept seeing this cute girl walking to class that had the biggest, most beautiful smile I had … Continue reading My Story